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Topeka city government receives national recognition for website

Topeka’s city government was recognized this week as a finalist in the “Overall City Government Experience” category of the inaugural Government Experience Awards handed out by the Center for Digital Government. (City of Topeka)

Topeka’s city government was recognized this week as a finalist in the “Overall City Government Experience” category of the inaugural Government Experience Awards handed out by the Center for Digital Government.

That organization indicated Tuesday on its website that the top five places in the category went, for first through fifth, to the City and County of Denver; City of Louisville, Ky.; City of Bayside, Wis.; City and County of San Francisco; and City of Los Angeles.

Announced as finalists in the category were the City of Topeka and the village of Riverside, Ill., the site said.

It indicated the awards honor “U.S. governments who are offering citizens more integrated, anticipatory and personalized electronic services.”

The inaugural Government Experience Awards replace the “Best of the Web” awards the center previously offered for 20 years.

The city of Topeka, which maintains a website at www.topeka.org, announced the honor in a news release Thursday.

It said the award recognizes “the achievements and best practices of cities that have used the web to improve government service and create innovative services.”

City senior web developer Matthew Ludwick said in the release that those behind the city’s website found it really grafiying to see their hard work recognized on a national scale.

“We’ve put a lot of effort into making the website a better place for citizens to find resources, and those efforts are showing,” he said.

The city’s website development team continues to work to make improvements that will make the website more user-friendly and help citizens find what they’re looking for more quickly, he said.